Wexford to receive new postcodes

Wexford residents and business owners will soon be receiving their own postcodes via letter, with the first ones landing in the county on July 21.

The codes, which are already available online, are part of the new Eircode system being rolled out nationally by the state over the summer.

The aim of the Eircode system, which has cost €27 million so far, is to make it easier for people to find addresses in Ireland. As over 35 per cent of Irish businesses and households share their address with at least one other property, it can be difficult for those delivering goods or services to pinpoint a location.

Cllr George Lawlor welcomed the arrival of the new system to the county, saying that it is likely to have a positive impact on businesses.

'It will allow services and businesses to operate in a more secure and efficient manner,' he said.

With the Eircode system, each property will have its own unique seven character code made up of two parts.

The first three characters are known as a Routing Key. This defines the principal town that the premise is located in. The second part, a Unique Identifier, is unique to an address and distinguishes one address from another. The code for Wexford will begin with Y.

According to those behind the system, Eircode will not only facilitate the delivery of goods. It will also make it faster for emergency services to locate addresses, make it easier to shop online and help to develop businesses. For rural parts of the county, this will be particularly beneficial.

However, despite the perceived benefits, the system has already come under fire. According to Conradh na Gaeilge, up to 50,000 place names in the Irish language are inaccurate or completely missing from the database in use by the Eircode system. Representatives from the emergency services have also raised concerns on the randomised nature of the code, saying that it might create difficulty for those trying to get to the scene of an accident. Many delivery companies such as FedEx, UPL and DHL are refusing to use the codes as they will not show when two addresses are adjacent.

Regardless of criticisms, the Eircode system was launched on July 13. However, Eircode have pointed out that having a code will not change your address and it is not mandatory to use it.